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Chromospheric Heating by MHD Waves and Instabilities

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Chromospheric Heating by MHD Waves and Instabilities manuscript submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics Chromospheric Heating by MHD Waves and Instabilities A.K. Srivastava1, J. L. Ballester2;3, P.S. Cally4, M. Carlsson5;6, M. Goossens7, D.B. Jess8, E. Khomenko9;10, M. Mathioudakis8, K. Murawski11, T.V. Zaqarashvili12;13;14 1Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology (BHU), Varanasi-221005, India 2Departament de F´ısica, Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 3Institut d0Aplicacions Computacionals de Codi Comunitari (IAC3), Universitat de les Illes Balears, E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 4School of Mathematics, Monash University, Clayton, Victoria 3800, Australia 5Institute of Theoretical Astrophysics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway 6Rosseland Center for Solar Physics, University of Oslo, P.O. Box 1029 Blindern, N-0315 Oslo, Norway 7Centre for mathematical Plasma Astrophysics (CmPA), KU Leuven, Celestijnenlaan 200B bus 2400, B-3001 Leuven, Belgium 8Astrophysics Research Centre, School of Mathematics and Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, BT7 1NN, UK 9Instituto de Astrof´ısicade Canarias, E-38205 La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain 10Departamento de Astrof´ısica, Universidad de La Laguna, E-38205, La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain 11Institute of Physics, University of M. Curie-Sk lodowska, Pl. M. Curie-Sk lodowskiej 1, 20-031 Lublin, Poland 12IGAM, Institute f¨urPhysik, University of Graz, Universit¨atsplatz5, A-8010 Graz, Austria 13Ilia State University, Cholokashvili ave 5/3, Tbilisi, Georgia 14Abastumani Astrophysical Observatory, Mount Kanobili, Abastumani, Georgia Key Points: • magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) • waves • instabilities • solar atmosphere • chromosphere arXiv:2104.02010v1 [astro-ph.SR] 5 Apr 2021 Corresponding author: A.K. Srivastava, [email protected] {1{ manuscript submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics Abstract The importance of the chromosphere in the mass and energy transport within the solar atmosphere is now widely recognised. This review discusses the physics of magneto- hydrodynamic (MHD) waves and instabilities in large-scale chromospheric structures as well as in magnetic flux tubes. We highlight a number of key observational aspects that have helped our understanding of the role of the solar chromosphere in various dynamic processes and wave phenomena, and the heating scenario of the solar chro- mosphere is also discussed. The review focuses on the physics of waves and invokes the basics of plasma instabilities in the context of this important layer of the solar atmosphere. Potential implications, future trends and outstanding questions are also delineated. 1 Introduction The complex magnetic field of the solar chromosphere exerts significant effects on the propagation and dissipation of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) waves. The chro- mosphere channels mechanical energy from the photosphere into the transition region (TR) and corona, leading to several physical processes such as wave reflection and mode-conversion, which depend on the magnetic field strength and the local plasma properties (e.g., Vecchio et al., 2007; Srivastava et al. 2008a; Cally and Khomenko 2019; Ballester et al. 2020). In the quiet-Sun the magnetic field is rooted in the inter- granular lanes forming intense flux tubes which are subjected to continuous motions of their footpoints. The physical nature of the drivers near the footpoints of the flux tubes results in a variety of wave modes which evolve as they travel through the solar photosphere and lower chromosphere. Such MHD waves may also be evolved in situ in the chromosphere and can propagate into TR and inner corona imparting some Poynt- ing energy flux to overcome their radiative losses, as recently observed in a variety of chromospheric structures (e.g., Kukhianidze et al. 2006; Zaqarashvili et al. 2007; Jess et al. 2009; Morton et al. 2012; Kuridze et al. 2013; Srivastava et al. 2017; Jess et al. 2020). For example these MHD modes include: (i) kink waves excited by the horizontal buffeting motions, (ii) slow waves due to pressure fluctuations, (iii) torsional Alfv´enwaves generated by the twisting motions; or/otherwise important in the long- wavelength limit fast and slow magnetoacoustic-gravity waves as well as their hybrid consisting of coupled Alfv´en and magnetoacoustic-gravity waves (e.g., Ulmschneider et al. 1991; Hasan et al. 2003; De Pontieu et al. 2007; Khomenko et al. 2008a; Jess et al. 2009; McIntosh et al. 2011; Morton et al. 2012; Mathioudakis et al. 2013; Jess et al. 2015; Srivastava et al. 2017; Liu et al. 2019). The MHD waves and oscillations are also associated with the active region sunspots. The chromospheric plasma, which is a low-lying and rather strongly magne- tized region above these spots, possesses exotic physical processes and their subsequent effects on the wave propagation. Wave excitation mechanisms above these spots, mode conversion, the formation of shocks, frequency dependent reflection from the transi- tion region, the effects of complex magnetic structuring and inhomogeneities in the penumbra, put forward a multitude of physical processes that affect the evolution and dissipation of MHD wave modes and determine their role in chromospheric and coro- nal heating (e.g., Crouch and Cally 2005; Botha et al. 2011; Khomenko and Cally 2012; Tian et al. 2014; Khomenko and Collados 2015; Grant et al. 2018; Srivastava et al. 2018; Kang et al. 2019; Cho and Chae 2020). While the complex structuring of plasma and magnetic field above sunspots influence highly the evolutionary and dissi- pative properties of MHD waves over the large-scale environment at long-wavelength limits, there is an ample evidence that these strongly magnetized structures can act as a MHD wave-guide for the excited tubular modes (e.g., kink, sausage, and torsional modes) which transport the significant amount of energy upwards into the overlying {2{ manuscript submitted to Journal of Geophysical Research - Space Physics corona possibly for its heating (e.g., Grant et al. 2015; Moreels et al. 2015a; Jess et al. 2017; Keys et al. 2018). The plasma of solar prominences have properties similar to the properties of the chromospheric plasma, apart from the superstrong magnetic field in the intense flux tubes. These structures are treated as thermally and pressure isolated, enveloped in- side a Prominence-Corona-Transition-Region (PCTR) and are made-up of partially ionized plasma (Parenti 2014). It has been proposed that the excitation and dissipa- tion of MHD waves in prominences can contribute to their heating in addition to the more dominant radiative heating (Arregui 2015). Complex and turbulent flows, strong inhomogeneities in plasma and magnetic field properties under the presence of gravity also yield some typical instabilities in such isolated chromospheric plasma systems, e.g., Rayleigh-Taylor (R-T), Kelvin-Helmholtz (K-H) instabilities (e.g., Berger et al. 2008; Ryutova et al. 2010; Berger et al. 2010; Hillier et al. 2011; Innes et al. 2012; Berger et al. 2017; Mishra et al. 2018; Mishra and Srivastava 2019). As a result of the existence of waves and a wide variety of plasma flows induced by their nonlinear behaviour in the prominences, which are strongly influenced by the large magnetic Reynolds numbers of the ambient system, such solar prominences may develop tur- bulence that further contribute significantly to the heating rate of these large-scale structures (Hillier and Polito 2018). The solar chromosphere is different from the corona as far as MHD wave modes, instabilities, and heating are concerned. It requires higher amounts of energy input (106{107 erg cm−2 s−1) to balance its radiative losses compared to the solar corona (104{106 erg cm−2 s−1). Realistic models of the chromospheric plasma involve a multi- fluid approach with a finite plasma-beta and accommodate the additional physical effects of partial ionisation and radiative transfer in non-local thermodynamic equilib- rium (e.g., Hansteen et al. 2007; Soler et al. 2012; Mart´ınez-Sykora et al. 2015; Soler et al. 2019; Ballai et al. 2019). Although the single continuum fluid consideration at MHD length and time scales will suffice in dealing with the various wave modes or instabilities in the solar chromosphere, we do not invoke some additional frequency dependent physics of the region, e.g., wave damping by ion-neutral collisions, etc., there (Ballester et al. 2018). Alternatively, the direct dissipation of electric current facilitated by the magnetic reconnection provides a stringent physical scenario about another significant mecha- nism to heat the solar atmosphere (e.g., nano-flare heating; bulk plasma heating; liberating energy through twists and braiding of the magnetic field lines, etc.) (e.g., Cargill and Klimchuk 2004; Winebarger et al. 2013; Klimchuk 2015; Xue et al. 2016; Srivastava et al. 2019). Apart from the magnetic reconnection generated heating, when we consider the two- or multi-fluid scales and relevant physical scenario espe- cially in the context of the solar chromosphere, regardless of the waves the frictional heating can be significant as it simply accounts for the case where the ions are moving relatively to the neutrals and the friction between them can be significant (e.g., Al Shidi et al. 2019). The similar physical scenario is true for the waves and instabilities also in the frame-work of the solar chromosphere where the deviation from MHD scales to fluid scales lead the additional physics (e.g., ion-neutral collisions; ambipolar diffu- sion, etc) leading
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